please help

roxiepie_2

I found this website good: http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/index.html

takes care of your shopping list and everything

happy35

i would agree that if you are trying to lose weight then soup is great as it really fills you up.

I always buy the meat that is on offer at Lidl every weekend, usually buy a couple of each thing so that I have a choice over a few weeks. A chicken from Aldi £2.99 that I cook in the slow cooker, have a dinner with veg and potatoes one night and make a curry with it the next night.

Bolognaise made with peppers, onion and tin of tomatoes padded out with a few dried lentils. A 500g pack of mine gives enough for 2 meals so freeze half for a uick tea the following week.

I also make a corned beef again enough for 2 meals, i put in veg and a tin of beans and a bit of gravy and top wiht mash before putting through the oven and freeze the other half for another day.

One you get into cooking from scratch you will find that you can make things lower in fat as I neve fry anything in oil other than the low cal spray, and home made is much more filling.

Good luck with your budget and losing weight x

pinksuedeshoes

hi thanks to everyone for your help.
t.t.and rice if you ever need to talk pm me if it helps for you to talk im here for you:)

up to now i have
home made vegetable soup mostly tomato based, wholemeal bread and rice pu and jam for kids and OH

day after some soup (will be quite thick as we love thick soup) mixed with pasta and a sprinkle of cheese on for kids and oh Pudding tinned pears in juice and ice cream for them ill just have pears

Tesco value chicken (i know all the ethical people will not be happy but i have had them before and like them) half a jacket potato each salad and homemade coleslaw Tinned strawberries in juice and sugar free jelly

leftover chicken fajitas with salad and cooked red pepper and red onion also natural yoghurt. Sugar free jelly and ice cream (just jelly for me)

Thats it up to now please feel free to comment good or bad :T

make_me_wise

This wombling lark sounds great. Im going to scuttle off to Asda in a bit and search out some reciepts

tea-tart-and-rice_3

thank you pink s.s again for those kind words. To be honest I was in probably, with hindsight, a self-indulgent mood yesterday and should have kept your thread on topic. Just been an emotional time.

You seem to have fully embraced the cooking from scratch thing and yesterday's meals sound good to me. Don't dismiss the thought that in the next few weeks you can go brambling - in quite a few places near where we have decent brambles are wild apple trees too, whether its ethical or not to take a few I don't know. However, I have and have made some very nice crumbles with them, lol! You may have to look to your conscience.

Your brambles can be frozen or made into jam/jelly (very easy). Basically free jam to go with your homemade puds or porridge.

I think any major change to how you run your kitchen will take determination and look on it as a means to an end. You will feel so empowered and proud of yourself if you stick with it and there are lots of friendly peeps on here that will support you along the way.

Make me wise - how did your wombling go? Yesterday I entered four receipts I'd found in the foliage around Asda carpark in the morning but all came back as 10% cheaper. Thats the way it goes, win some lose some. Its a bit like taking home that lottery scratchcard/draw ticket - you could be a millionaire! lol.

OOh, meant to say for receipts found in Asda they have to have at least 8 items on them for them to compare, so don't bother picking up the tiddlers around the cashpoints etc as they most likely only have a packet of cigs or a sandwich on them.

Hope everyone has a good day x

edited to add: For those of you with a printer and who havent already taken advantage of this offer over on the "discount codes & vouchers" board, first sticky - "updated printable coupons..." you will find a link to Sharwoods (free jar of sauce offer). Basically, complete the form with your details, where it asks for a code - input 1118, tick the box for Madras and write 15 words of blurb extohling the virtues of curry sauce in a jar and it will allow you to print a voucher for a free jar (if you are quick and press the back button on your keyboard it will allow you to print two). These vouchers are non store specific which means you can use them in any supermarket. The coupon scans for £1.55 so if you find somewhere who has it on offer for say, £1 you are .55p up off your shopping bill. I think Asda currently have sharwoods for 3 for £3 so if you do have two vouchers you will get all three jars for FREE! See, up there for thinking, down there for dancing...! Wish I could post links - makes life so much more easy. Do hope you all try.

pinksuedeshoes

well after a day of trying to work this out i have come up with my first weekly meal plan
here goes, any thought welcome

breakfasts for me hub and ds1
Tesco wheat biscuits 48pack
ds2 multigrain hoops
25g of dried fruit on cereal

Dinners
Extra light soft cheese and cucumber on wholemeal bread x2 days
Tuna and cucumber on wm bread x 2 days
egg and cress on wm bread x2 days
ham and tomato on wm bread x 1 day

choice of apple, banana, pear, grapes and watermelon after dinner
and a harvest chewee bar yum !

teas
hm vegetable soup and wm bread PUD rice pudding and jam
penne pasta with bit yesterdays soup stirred in PUD tinned pear in juice and a scoop of ice cream
Tesco value chicken, jacket pot, hm coleslaw and salad PUD tinned strawberry in juice and strawberry sugar free jelly
leftover chichken wraps, salad, red pepper and red onion PUD sf jelly and ice cream
jacket potatoes, hm coleslaw, salad and vegetable burgers PUD fruity ice lolly
vegetarian mince spag bol PUD value low fat fruit yoghurt
vege mince chilli and rice PUD fruit salad

drinks
tea
coffee
fizzy flavoured water
orange sf cordial
blackcurrant sf cordial
water

granny buys kids fruit and biscuits and crackers so they can have those for snacks as usual.

phew now i need to think of some more
that little lot comes in at £40.70 from tesco

tea-tart-and-rice_3

Hi pink s.s I am really impressed with your meal plans. You may find it a good idea to keep them in a notebook so you don't repeat them too often, when you feel inspired write down some ideas for next week, then for the week after mix them up a bit.

Think of lots of things to do with pasta - reduced items go well with pasta, look for "whoopsied" (reduced) sausages, chorizo, hams & bacons as well as mince for a bolo. Make extra and freeze if you can. A bit of mayo works well to eek out a topping for jacket pots. Make your own pizza, kids love that and you can eek out the ingredients. Left over bolo makes great pasties for snacks or even a semi-healthy salad.

For next summer think about growing your own cucumbers. We do, in pots, they are the small snack size cucumbers. All they need is a pot, lots of water and are great for kids, my dd3 loves them straight off the plant. Also cherry toms, they grow easy. Too late for this year but plan ahead.

Dont forget to bramble in a few weeks too. Great pudds even if you just blitz them down and mix with porridge or ice-cream.

By the way over on the printable coupons thread there are two possible coupons for philidelphia (I see you have soft cheese on your menu). £1 off philly when you connect to them on facebook and a 50 p coupon available from the "lovefilm" site.

Tesco have recently had philly on bogof so you can legitimately use two coupons which make it almost free. Never underestimate the power of the money off coupon.

If you have lots of weetabix in the house you can make quite a lush weekabix cake (slimming world or minimims site), just add some cocoa powder (or if really for slimming an options sachet) and it cooks in the microwave in no time. Lush with custard, yogurt or icecream.

If you haven't already then please sign up for tesco clubcard as points really do add up and you only have to have 150 to gain at least a £1.50 shopping voucher. Also if you womble in Tesco as I suggested in an earlier post some peeps don't use a clubcard and you could add those points to yours.

Also, and last but not least, if you shop in Tesco you may as well use their price check service. After your shop enter your receipt details at tesco price guarantee (go to tesco direct, site map) and you may also get a voucher back against your next shopping if any of your items was found cheaper in Asda.

hth

pinksuedeshoes

ordered my shopping on tesco for only £2 DELIVERY woohoo cause i would have had to take the kids with me and i am a complete pushover. iknow i only have to say no but thats dads job he he.

I have some beans growing at the mo so learning about them this year cause i love em yum yum, but hoping to do something else too next year. Too much and i'm easily confused:rotfl:. deffo going blackberry picking with kids i used to do it loads when i was little.

i have made myself a little pad today from scrap paper and wool and started to jot some ideas for my future £40 a week meal plans. Im so excited :T

what kind of things does everyone make with cous cous, i love it but i never know what to put with it?

ps does anyone know why when i search i can never find the subject i want and i have to go on and look through all the old posts :huh:

tea-tart-and-rice_3

couscous is a quick and easy replacement for rice, but its not to everyone's palette.

Personally, (another slimming world recipe) is take a quantity per person of dried couscous, make up with chocolate options (the choc n coconut one is nice). When cooled spread a sweetened (with splenda (or supermarket equivalent)) layer of fromage fraise over the top for a yummy very low fat dessert. Sprinkle with a dusting of another options sachet. Serve with fruit or on its own well chilled. Thinking on my feet, when the brambles come in I'd bet the white chocolate options mixed with your couscous with give a nice pud served with blitzed blackberries.

Also, its a shame that you've already ordered with Tesco as currently over on bargain buys board is a code for a £20 off a £40 shop with Tesco for customers who sign up with crowdity. Try and check out the "grabbit" boards as this is updated all the time with money off your shop codes with online Tesco.

Sally_A

Whereabouts do you live in the UK PinkSS? If you are quite rural, farmshops sell spuds much cheaper than supermarkets, but it is normally a heftier outlay at the start.

Also, any markets nearby.....turn up about 2.00pm ish, and ask the fruit and veg stall for crates of reduced stuff to freeze/soup - similar with the meat stall.

Suss out your local supermarket for the times they yellow sticker stuff, or go just before closing.

How old are your children? as this has a bearing on the amount they eat and the nutrition they need........do they have school dinners; paid for or free? or do they need a hot meal every evening?

My cheapest for 4 meal is Pasta, with a pack of frankfurters, chopped into about 1cm slices, with value brand passata and for more liquid use a stock cube, so there's a base for around £2.20. Embelish it with bargain veg, and top with the hard edges of cheese, that can be frozen and saved to use as you want. Jamie Oliver restaurants sell that dish for approx £8.95 per person :rotfl:.